Horsetail

[prairiegarden]

The land which has been quietly restoring itself with random patches of help suddenly developed an abundance of vegetation this year, in areas which until now have been home mostly to wild sage and asters and scattered stalks of brome or an occasional alfalfa plant. And lots of sand. 

Two plants are a bit distressing that have suddenly appeared in great numbers. One is a grass that nobody can identify but developes spikey awns.. lots fewer awns than foxtail and they are erect rather than drooping. The other appears to be horsetail. Some forms of horsetail are supposed to be very useful, but I can't find any definitive way to identify which this is. I also can't find out if it matters..if it doesn't then hurrah but if it does...then it turns into only an invasive weed.

Does anyone here know about horsetail? Would it be safe to use as a herb even if I can't make an absolutely secure identification as to what variety it is?

The grass I am just going to have to try to bully it out with more aggressive grasses. Turf warfare!

[steev]

Horsetail is a very primitive plant; here long before Angiosperms, which we know and love. Variety? Are there varieties? In ignorance, I will suggest that horsetail is horsetail, except when it's coal. All I can say for sure is that it's not bad for scrubbing out a pot, in a pinch; plenty silica there.

[reed]

I have it growing in the stream part of the artificial frog pond. I don't think it is poison but isn't supposed to be dangerous as far as using in any way connected with food? Because of the silica being such an irritant?

[prairiegarden]

Apparently there are indeed varieties and some are not only non toxic ( when prepared properly, I very much doubt anyone who tried to chow it down as is would be happy with the results) but of considerable value as they are so rich in silica. It is supposed to be very helpful to the body in that it links to various toxic heavy metals and helps the body get rid of them, ( as well as being helpful for maintaining and restoring healthy hair and nails). It is one of the few plant sources available for silica, stinging nettle being another, and plant sources are supposedly much easier for the body to use effectively.

But the horsetail I'm familiar with is the sort that likes damp places and this stuff is growing in what to the eye looks like mostly sand, certainly extremely fast draining and dry. It's known as a weed in this part of the world, and is called field horsetail. What I'm trying to find out is if all the varieties work the same and therefore if it would be safe to use this stuff.

[diane]

7 species of Equisetum are described in Plants of Coastal British Columbia including Washington, Oregon & Alaska, by Pojar and MacKinnon.

One species, Giant Horsetail ( E. telmatiea) was preferred by native groups. Spore-bearing shoots and young vegetative shoots were an important spring vegetable, eaten raw with oil after the papery sheaths were removed.

The green parts of this and other species are poisonous to livestock, and the authors caution that they may be poisonous to humans as well, especially if eaten in large quantities.

[jondear]

I brought a few stocks of horsetail to the university greenhouse several years ago for identification (before everyone had smartphones) and asked the head guy how to get rid of it. He told me to move.

[prairiegarden]

Well it's a prehistoric plant so there must be some reason that it isn't the only or even a dominant plant on earth, it's certainly had the time to manage it. Trying to figure out what its role is in this project of restoration, watching the changes the land is going through is really quite interesting. Next year I might try putting pigs and or chickens in that area ( I'd be feeding them of course!) and see what happens.

[blueadzuki]

Technically they WERE for a period during the Carboniferous, or at least, were one of the dominant ones. That's what most of the world coal is made of, giant horsetails, clubmosses, and such.

As for why they couldn't keep the edge it probably has to do with the change of climate since them. The Carboniferous had a lot more oxygen in the air (about double, which is why you could have two foot diameter spiders and dragonflies the size of sparrows) and (this is the more important bit) a lot more moisture in the air everywhere. Spore producing plants need water for their sperm to swim in for fertilization to work. That fine if you are in and environment where is basically is rainy or misty every single day. but the Earth is a lot drier now (I don't think even the rain-forest gets rain EVERY day anymore.) Angiosperms may invest a lot more energy in making seeds than Sporophytes, but they wind up with a product that is able to stay alive and viable a lot longer before having to start growing.